Planned 20 sales managers. The model said: 5. Reality confirmed it.
5 instead of 20sales managers: a decision based on the model, not a pitch deck
IndustryB2B distribution
Revenue€4-5M
FormatFinancial model and verification
TeamPartner, financial analyst
Situation
B2B distributor, €4-5M revenue. Head of sales came to the owner with a finished proposal: scale the sales team to 20 managers. The math looked solid: average sale × 20 = desired revenue. Before pouring money in, the owner asked us to verify the plan with a model.
What we found and did
- Built a financial model with non-linear cost scaling
- Captured: customer acquisition cost grows disproportionately as lead volume rises
- Identified market capacity ceiling: the lead volume for 20 managers is barely reachable
- Optimum: 5 managers. Beyond that, each new hire adds revenue but kills profit
- Reality validated the model: company hired up to 10, no profit lift
Result
Sales team structurefrom 20 to 5 managers
Not invested15 hires that couldn't be utilised
Reality checkScaling to 10 confirmed the model
Decision basisModel, not a slide
A salesperson delivers only where there are customers to sell to, and where their acquisition pays off. Beyond that line, every new rep adds revenue and eats profit.
A 42.finance principle